


Learning Curve

by mahoni



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: 5000-10000 Words, Aliens, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-09
Updated: 2008-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-03 10:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mahoni/pseuds/mahoni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Teyla are stranded in the middle of an off-world ocean. Cold, injuries and rising water are definite issues, but mostly they're just hoping they don't get eaten by squid people before they're rescued.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning Curve

The beautiful pillars towering out of the sea past the curve of the bay were not, as it turned out, the ruins of another sunken Ancient city. They were carved stone, decorated with worn, curly glyphs that looked nothing like Ancient writing; and once they got close enough John could see that the design was completely foreign.

"But they are still extremely impressive," Teyla said to Naol, their boatman.

She wasn't exaggerating, either. The pillars were magnificent. Even if they had just been carved from rock outcroppings that were already there as opposed to being built, the skill and time required to create them must've been considerable. The archaeology department was going to go nuts when they saw them.

Naol smiled and nodded.

"Maybe they were made by the people who lived here before," Ronon said, gazing up at them.

John shrugged. "Good a theory as any."

Naol's people had relocated here little more than a month or two ago, just before the Replicators had attacked their planet. They'd apparently found the place sort of by accident some time ago -- happy accident, since Naol's people were fisherman and the long-abandoned city tucked into the cliffs along the coast of the island had obviously been a fishing village. It was the logical place to settle when they had to leave their homes.

It hadn't taken them long to make themselves at home and begin to rebuild their fleet of fishing boats. They weren't naïve enough to believe that the Wraith nor the Replicators would never find them here, but since it was obvious no one had lived on this planet for a very, very long time, they felt that they at least had a little breathing room, and they were reveling in it.

When John's team had come through to check up on them, they'd been bursting to share their newest discoveries; this possible Ancient ruin was the cream of the crop, and Naol was obviously very pleased that his guests appreciated it.

Most of his guests, anyway.

"Yes, these primitive stone things are lovely," Rodney said. He was sitting on one of the benches with his head pillowed on his arms, and his voice was muffled. "Can we go back now? I think my Dramamine is wearing off, and if we stay here much longer I'm probably going to start throwing up on all of your shoes."

"You're such a romantic at heart, Rodney," John said.

But the tide was apparently coming in and sunset wasn't far away, and Naol had been about to suggest they turn back anyway. Everybody ducked as he shifted the main sail and brought the little boat around.

The pillars were starting to shrink in the distance when Naol suddenly gasped. Then he yelled and staggered back, tripped over a coil of rope on the deck and toppled overboard.

John got to the side of the boat first. Still taking wind, the boat was still moving forward and Naol was falling behind. John could see him face up in the water, motionless; he could also see blood, and realized the man must have hit his head when he went over.

"Crap," he muttered. He kicked off his boots and stripped off his vest. "Try to stop the boat," he said, and jumped in.

Naol was partly conscious, thrashing and moaning feebly as John swam him back to the boat. Ronon reached down and caught the man's collar; John tried to help by shoving from below.

Then Rodney said, "What is that? That, right there -- do you see -- what _is_ that?"

And suddenly Teyla was beside Ronon, reaching for John.

"You must get out quickly," she said urgently, just as Rodney started shouting,

"Oh my god! Get out of the water!"

John didn't ask, just reached for Teyla's hand. Then something punched him forward and he slammed face-first into the side of the boat. He saw stars and his arm went numb; he heard shouting, and then he was jerked backwards. Water flared up around him as he was pulled rapidly away from the boat; he had time to gasp -- in pain, for air -- and he was dragged under.

*

The object Rodney pointed to pushed through the water off to the side of the boat. Teyla shaded her eyes against the setting sun, and could just make it out: it was round, not large, and glistened a deep, burnished yellow. At first it moved away from the boat, away from John and the boatman in the water, but then it turned sharply.

As Rodney began to yell and she leaned over the edge of the boat to pull John up, the water around the yellow thing roiled and foamed. Tentacles thrashed, and a squat body rose up from the sea. The creature lifted a long, narrow device; a mist exploded from it, and a spear struck John in the back.

Beside her, Ronon roared and lunged, trying to reach for John too even as he struggled to haul Naol into the boat. Teyla saw the creature twist and dive, and then John flew backwards and vanished into the water.

She did not think; she swung onto the boat rail and dove.

The creature had not gone far, and she nearly landed on top of John as she sliced into the water. He slipped past her so quickly, though, and she would have lost him if she had not managed to catch hold of his pant leg.

She fought the pressure of the water as they were dragged along, climbing up John's body until she could hook her arm around his neck. He clutched at her, and then tried to push her away; she ignored him as she pulled her boot knife and stretched to saw at the cord tied to the spear.

Her lungs burned and her blood pounded in her head before the cord snapped and they stopped moving. She kicked, holding onto John, hoping desperately that the surface was not too far away. At first John was a dead weight, and she could feel them drifting down instead of up. She struck his face as hard as she could through the water, pinched his arm, tried to shake him, and suddenly he flailed, swinging at her and kicking. This time when she tried to pull him up with her he helped.

They broke the surface and clung awkwardly to each other as they choked out water and gulped in air. Teyla looked for the boat, but only saw the stone pillars, closer than they should be, and the low table-top stones that crouched beneath them. She adjusted her grip on John and turned.

They had been pulled far from the boat, too far to swim quickly to it. Worse, the ocean between themselves and the boat was filled with more of the sea creatures. Dozens of them moved just at the water's surface, just out of range of Ronon's occasional gunfire. One or two would boil up at random and fire a spear at the boat, but they all fell short.

Rodney was trying to raise her on the radio; she keyed it on and managed "Not now." Then she turned again toward the stone ruins and tugged at John.

He was floundering, still gagging and spitting out both water and the blood running from his nose.

"Boat," he gasped.

"Too far," she said, and tugged him again.

It was slow going, fighting the waves and the weight of their clothes. John swam one-armed, and Teyla had to continually grab him and yank him back above the water. They were fortunate in that the sea creatures seemed most concerned with the boat; other than one that paced them cautiously from a distance, they were ignored.

They made it to the nearest low stone outcropping at last. Teyla hauled herself up and flopped onto her stomach to grab hold of John's reaching hand. He inched slowly out of the water, gasping breathlessly every time the point of the spear jutting from his shoulder scraped against the stone.

Finally he was up. They lay on the stone, panting; every now and then John would convulse and cough up more water. Teyla knew she needed to get up and check on him, needed to check the water around them to see if the creatures had finally remembered their other prey, needed to contact Ronon and Rodney and learn their situation. But for a long moment her exhausted body would not obey her.

She felt John's hand twitch in hers and realized she was still gripping it tightly. She let her fingers relax and their hands slipped apart. Her hand was bloody; she looked and saw that his palm and fingers were cut to ribbons. He must have tried to pull out the spear and cut himself on the point.

"-- on that rock, there, there, I see them," Rodney said suddenly in Teyla's ear. "Teyla! Sheppard! Oh my god, they're not moving, they look dead. Are you guys dead? Please don't be dead!"

Teyla touched her earpiece. "We are --" Her voice was little more than a whisper. She cleared her throat and said more loudly, "We are not dead, Rodney."

*

Teyla said they weren't dead so they must not be, but at the moment John felt like it could still go either way, for him at least. He felt like someone had flipped the switch on his arms and legs and shut them off. His stomach kept clenching, twisting, and he'd retch up dribbles of sour, salty water; which would make him gasp for breath with lungs that felt full of broken glass; and then his shoulder would blaze with pain and his head would throb. Over and over, until everything went gray, and then black...

He faded back in, and Teyla was kneeling over him, talking. Her hand rested on his neck and he could feel the gentle pressure of her fingers against his pulse.

"-- many of them. There may even be more," she was saying.

"I can handle them," Ronon said through the radio.

"No. Ronon, you must go. You must get to shore, get back to Atlantis and bring a puddlejumper for us. It is our only option."

"We're not leaving you."

John wondered how long they'd been arguing. He managed to get an arm working and flopped his hand against his earpiece.

"Ronon," he rasped. Wow, talking really, really hurt. "Go."

There was silence from the other end of the radio.

"Ronon," Teyla said gently, but firmly. "The longer you wait --"

"All right," Ronon snapped. John could hear his teeth were gritted. "Fine. We'll go."

"How is Naol?" Teyla asked. "Can he sail the boat?"

"He's woozy, but yeah, he says he can do it if we help," Rodney said. "He also says his people haven't seen these creatures before, although how they could have missed _armed alien squid_ swimming around right underneath them --"

"Rodney," John ground out. There were any number of reasons Naol's people hadn't seen these creatures before, starting with the possibility that the creatures hadn't _wanted_ to be seen until now. Regardless, making Naol feel bad about it was unnecessary.

"I know, I know, shut up and sail the boat," Rodney said. He hesitated, and then said, "You guys watch your backs. We'll -- we'll be back as soon as we can."

The connection cut out. John sighed. His head was in a puddle of water, and while he was starting to feel his arms and legs again that just meant more parts of him that ached.

By his estimate, they'd taken about an hour to get out here, with the wind at their backs. Progress away from the pillars had been slower, so they were looking at probably more than an hour until the boat made it to shore, plus time to get to the other side of the island to the Stargate and get a puddlejumper...

"So how screwed are we?" he managed.

Teyla brushed her palm against his forehead, smoothing his hair back. "That remains to be seen."

He forced his eyes open and looked a question up at her. She sighed. "There are creatures still out in the water. They have not attempted to attack us again, but I do not know if that will last once they become certain the boat is leaving. Right now, there are two of them watching us from one of the lower stone pillars some distance away."

She paused, but he could tell the bad news hadn't stopped coming. He got his functional arm under him and struggled to sit up. With Teyla's help he managed it, although everything was really wobbly once he was up. He scanned the sea; he could see the boat, already small in the distance, and a handful of colorful shapes scattered closer by. He glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the two Teyla had mentioned -- a yellow blob and a smaller red blob crouched atop the lowest of the pillars. He couldn't tell if they were armed, but he figured they were.

"And..." he said, but the words got lost in a coughing fit. Instead he just gestured vaguely at the sun, sitting deeply on the horizon.

"Yes," Teyla said grimly. "And the tide is coming in."

He nodded; waves were already washing over their rock.

"So, pretty screwed," he wheezed.

"Very."

*

They decided to get the worst over with immediately. Teyla was willing to let John recover a little more first, but he shook his head and scowled at her, making 'get on with it' motions with his hand.

The spear had gone through his shoulder below the shoulder blade; since he was not coughing up blood she felt relatively sure it must have missed the lung as well. Hopefully it would come out easily.

The barbed tip had been pulled back into the meat of his chest when he was dragged, so she had to push the spear from the back first. She had him lay down for it, which turned out to be a wise move; he passed out at the first shove.

She worked quickly then, getting a hold of the spear from the front and drawing it the rest of the way through while he was unconscious. He woke as she was padding the wounds with pieces of heavy fabric she had cut from her pants, binding them in place with strips of his thinner t-shirt.

When she had finished, and wrapped his cut hand as well, he refused to remain lying down; since the water level was rising rapidly and it would soon be too dangerous for him to lie down anyway, she didn't argue, just helped him, and let him lean against her when the blood rushed from his face and his balance collapsed.

"I can't believe I got harpooned by the Little Mermaid," he said weakly, his voice barely above a whisper.

She did not understand the reference, so she said nothing, just scanned the ocean again for the creatures.

She blinked, and must have made a sound, because John raised his head.

"What?"

She swept a hand at the seascape. "They are all gone. They were there just a moment ago."

She had kept an eye on the creatures while she removed the spear and bandaged John's wounds; the creatures had maintained their distance, but had also maintained their numbers. Until now. Even the two on the pillar were gone.

A splash to their right had her on her feet, the bloody spear and her boot knife in her hands. One of the creatures had slipped onto the rock; she thought it might be the red one that had been watching them from the pillar. Four thick tentacles coiled and flopped beneath it as it glided sideways to make room for another of its kind. Both held cross-bow style spear guns in one of two slender tentacles that extended from the top of their broad torsos like arms. Gills fluttered agitatedly on the sides of their faces as they stared at her and John with enormous dark eyes.

They all regarded each other in silence for a long moment. She felt John shifting where he sat beside her, and his raspy voice drifted up softly.

"I don't see any others. Could be hiding under the water, though."

She nodded. Carefully lowering her weapons a little, enough to show she was not going to attack, she said, slowly,

"We mean you no harm. We are stranded here, but we will leave as soon as possible."

The creatures both started, filmy white lids flickering rapidly over their eyes. The yellow one tilted its head toward the other and spoke in a fluted whisper, and then slowly raised its weapon.

Teyla raised hers as well and took a quick step forward, putting herself between the creatures and John.

"We do not wish to fight you," she said, putting steel into her voice. "But if you attack we will defend ourselves."

The yellow creature froze, and again they all stared at each other.

As the moment drew out, John muttered, "I do not like this."

She was about to agree with him, when the creatures moved. Teyla tensed, but they did not attack; instead they glided backwards, oozing off the rock and into the sea. And then they were gone.

*

John staggered as a wave hit him at the back of his thighs. He tightened his arm over Teyla's shoulders and felt her brace herself, and they stayed upright. If not for Teyla he'd be done for. His legs were shaky -- his whole body was shaky -- his head felt light despite his swollen nose and black eyes; breathing wasn't so easy and he kept going off on coughing fits that nearly brought him to his knees. Rodney and Ronon would be back soon; he just hoped it was soon enough.

At least the squid people hadn't come back. He was still half convinced that at any second slimy tentacles would yank their legs out from under them and drag them down to the ocean floor for dinner, but since they'd had plenty of opportunity to do that and hadn't he was trying to be optimistic.

Darkness had fallen and the planet's nightside moon made the rolling water flicker with shifting patches of shadow and glow. He shivered in the cool wind, trying to keep his eyes open. He kept thinking he saw movement, but it would turn out to be a wave, so he was using his ears more than his eyes to listen for danger. But the gentle shush of the waves against the pillars was so soothing, the rocking motion of the water around his legs was soothing, the darkness was really, really soothing...

...he choked on a mouthful of water and blinked his eyes open. Water was up to his chin, and he panicked, thrashing, trying to swim, thinking he must have fallen asleep on his feet and the tide had kept rising --

"You have to stand up," Teyla was shouting. "John, stand up."

\-- and then he felt her arms around him trying to lift him, and he realized the water hadn't risen, he'd fallen.

"Sorry!" he gasped. "Sorry, I fell...I think I fell asleep." He managed to get his feet under him and shoved up, shuddering violently as the wind hit his newly soaked clothes.

"I know," Teyla said wearily. "I am finding it difficult to stay awake too. But it should not be too much longer before Rodney and Ronon get back."

As she spoke a shadow steadied in the waves behind her. John blinked at it, unsure for a second if his eyes were playing tricks on him again; in that second something snaked around his legs and wound around his waist.

"Oh crap --"

Teyla twisted, jerking the knife from her belt and slicing down in one fluid motion at the creature behind her. Her arm stopped suddenly, though, caught; and her other hand, holding the spear, was already pinned to her side.

John couldn't move. He was pressed up against the cool body, wrapped up tightly, and as the creature holding him slid into the water he tried to catch Teyla's eye, tried to say _I'm sorry_, but one of the thick coils pressed over his face and the water closed over his head.

*

Teyla leaned forward over the seemingly bottomless little pool and unwound her hair, squeezing the water from it. One of the sea creatures sat on the other side of the room, trying not to watch her too conspicuously. It sat beside the little fountain of seawater spilling from an ornately decorated opening in the stone wall, absently dipping its tentacles beneath the stream, drawing the water to itself and swiping the tentacle over its body. Teyla wondered if it was bathing, or simply keeping its skin damp. The creatures seemed to breathe the air comfortably, but perhaps did not like spending too much time dry.

She stripped off her shirt and wrung it out over the pool as well before putting it back on, and then scooted the short distance back to the wall to sit beside John.

He was still unconscious, but was no longer shivering. They were inside one of the stone pillars. The creatures had carried them swiftly through the water instead of drowning them as Teyla had been sure they would do, and as they broke the water's surface next to the largest stone pillar, Teyla had seen a bright opening in the side of it. She and John had been passed up to several other creatures and drawn into this large, softly lit room. Teyla's weapons had been taken, but then they had been left, alone but for the one creature by the pool.

The room was warmer than the night air, but Teyla had still been chilled through from the wet, and John had been shaking with cold. The wheezing she had been hearing in his breathing was suddenly many times worse.

She had removed his shirt and chafed his arms and his chest with her hands, wishing for a fire or dry clothing -- and then flinched violently at a light touch on her back. She had turned to find their guard behind her. In its uppermost appendages it held a large, rumpled square of cloth.

She had stared at it, her tired mind not comprehending immediately what it was. There were cushions and blankets of sorts scattered around the room, but they were all of some kind of plant material that was slimy and damp. The object the creature held appeared dry.

The creature had placed the cloth on the ground and before it moved away, it gestured at the walls, and Teyla looked up. Vibrant patches of color she had only vaguely noticed earlier turned out to be hanging tapestries. They covered the walls with pictures of the sky and sea. There was one missing from across the room; it was the one the creature had given her.

She had touched it and sure enough, it was dry.

She had tucked it around John, and now she could see the good it was doing him.

He shifted, coughing a little, and his eyes fluttered open. He focused on her for a moment, and then his gaze drifted to take in the room before coming to rest on her again. He swallowed a couple of times before whispering,

"Thought being dead would look different."

She smiled, touching the backs of her fingers to his cheek. His skin was no longer clammy, though it was still very warm.

"We are not dead," she said. "In fact, I believe we have been rescued."

John's forehead creased, and he looked around again, this time catching sight of the sea creature.

"Rescued...by the squid people?"

Teyla shrugged. "Unless they are the sort of beings who wish to make their meals comfortable before eating them. Or who treat their prisoners with kindness and deference."

John blinked at her. "Not unheard of, actually."

She smiled ruefully. "I know, that is why I mentioned the possibilities. However...perhaps I am just very, very tired, but I do not feel that we are in danger here."

John was trying to sit up, but she suggested with the firm pressure of her hands that he stay as he was. He didn't have the strength to fight her, and he slumped back.

"They attack us, and shoot me," he said, and then broke off to stifle a cough. His voice was thin and rough when he continued. "But then decide to rescue us? Does that make sense?"

Teyla did not want to admit that she hadn't actually thought about it, that it was truly just a feeling. She shifted to put her back against the wall; knots in the muscles of her shoulders and back began to unkink immediately, and she nearly groaned with relief. The creature by the pool glanced at her, and then hoisted itself up on its tentacles and touched another wall hanging. It looked questioningly at her.

She could not help but smile. She shook her head. "No," she said. "Thank you. We do not need another."

"What --" John said, and twisted to get a better look at the sea creature. It was settling back into its original position, already reaching again for the little waterfall.

"It was offering us another wall hanging." She carefully smoothed the woven cloth over the uninjured side of John's chest. "As a blanket."

He stared at her, shot another look at the creature, and then lay back again. "Huh," he said finally. "Yeah, that is a little...weird." He paused. "It understands you?"

"Perhaps not the words, but the gestures. The intent?" She shrugged. "I do not know."

He shook his head and sighed, a shallow, rattling sound. "I hope you're right."

His eyes drifted shut again soon after that. Teyla didn't know how long she sat there, alternately pressing her hand against John's forehead to check his fever, and drawing her fingers through his hair when he became restless. She did not mean to, but at some point she dozed off, too. Rodney woke her up.

"Teyla! Teyla, where the hell are you? Sheppard? It looks -- it looks like you're inside one of the pillars, but that can't be right -- hello? Crap, that _can't_ be right, I'm going to take us around again..."

Teyla jerked up, away from the wall. John was stirring, too.

"Izzat Rodney?" he mumbled.

Teyla fumbled with her radio. "Rodney, it is Teyla. Yes, we are here, in the pillar."

"What? How the hell did you get in there? How is there even an _in_ in there, there aren't any doors or windows or openings of any kind -- oh, look at that --"

She heard the sound of stone scraping against stone, and looked up. Their guard had moved to a position only a few feet away from them and pressed the wall. An arched section of the stone swung slowly out, revealing the dark, starry sky. There was a flash of light, and the jumper dipped into view.

"Um," Rodney said. "What should we do?"

"Rodney," John wheezed. He was struggling to sit up again, and managing better. Teyla understood; she felt a new energy with safety so close by, too. "Lower the ramp and try to back up to the door. _Carefully._ Don't knock us over into the ocean."

By the time Rodney had gotten the jumper turned and backed as closely to the doorway as possible, Teyla had helped John to his feet.

Ronon and a pair of Marines hopped the short distance into the room. They all brought their weapons up, covering the creature by the pool. It made a startled trilling sound and toppled forward into the pool and vanished.

"O...kay," Ronon said. "That was easy."

Teyla saw Jennifer Keller peeking out the back of the jumper. "Am I clear to come in?" she called.

"No," Teyla said as Ronon came and took John from her and helped him to the jumper. "Stay there. We will come to you."

Teyla let the Marines herd her into the jumper, but she stood at the back, taking one last look into the room as the ramp closed. Then her knees buckled and she sank onto the bench.

Rodney was trying to both fly the jumper and keep an eye on the activities going on in the back of it.

"We thought we were going to find you floating away or, you know, have to rescue you from being squid people food. Obviously neither happened." He paused. "So, what exactly did happen?"

"We...are not entirely sure," Teyla said. Dr. Keller motioned for her to lie down, and Teyla smiled wearily and did so.

"But -- but -- you were just...hanging out with a squid person in there. _Something_ had to have happened."

"We don't know, Rodney," John said. Whispered very loudly, rather. "They thought we were dinner, and then they didn't. I don't know."

Keller shot Rodney a dirty look and said, "You know what, I bet Xenobiology can figure it out. Later. After you fly us back to Atlantis so that we can tell them all about it, all right?"

Rodney glared but did not argue, and turned his full attention to flying.

_I think I would like to come back and help figure it out,_ Teyla thought, and then discovered she had said it out loud when John said,

"Yeah...yeah. Me too."

Then Keller pressed the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth and he closed his eyes. Teyla pillowed her head on her arm, and the next thing she knew, they were home.

*


End file.
